The author of Jesus, Interrupted and God's Problem here reveals which books in the New Testament were not passed down by Jesus's disciples, but were instead fakes produced by other hands. More important, argues religious studies professor and Bible scholar Bart Ehrman, they were not part of a tradition of "writing in the name of another," as many scholars would prefer to believe, but were in fact outright forgeries—an act as illicit and scandalous then as it is now. Ehrman identifies them as deliberate inventions, created decades later to suit each author's own agenda, and warns that they carry far more significant implications for the authenticity of Scripture than many biblical scholars are willing to admit.

"Those familiar with the earlier work of Ehrman, a distinguished professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of more than 20 books including Misquoting Jesus, will not be surprised at the content of this one. Written in a manner accessible to nonspecialists, Ehrman ... takes on an idea widely accepted by biblical scholars: that writing in someone else's name was common practice and perfectly okay in ancient times. Ehrman argues that it was not even then considered acceptable—hence, a forgery.... Ehrman's introduction to the arguments and debates among different religious communities during the first few centuries and among the early Christians themselves ... is especially valuable."—Publishers Weekly